1. Field of the Invention
This invention is in the general field of histology, in particular the invention is an improved composition and method for staining microorganisms.
2. Description of Related Art
Histology is the practice of examination and classification of tissue to aid in diagnosis of a disease or condition expressed in the morphology of the affected tissue. The practice of staining tissue or features of tissues with a visualizing agent to visualize or detect them, and thus provide a scientific basis for diagnosing a patient, is a very old art, going back over one hundred years. Histology can be divided into three basic practice areas: immunohistochemistry (use of antibodies to visualize tissue structures), in situ hybridization (use of DNA/RNA probes to detect) or special stains (chemical staining of tissue). Special stains is the term given to a collection of chemically-based stains that have been developed in response to difficult to stain tissue types, unusual diseases, infectious diseases or other non-typical situations affecting the tissue.
The staining of histologic sections of tissue for the identification of H. pylori using a combination of Alcian Yellow and Toluidine Blue was published by Leung et al. (Leung, J K, Gibbob, K J, Vartanian, R K, “Rapid staining method for Heliobacter pylori in gastric biopsies,” J. Histol. 19:131-132 (1996).